US Court Deems UN Absolutely Immune from Cholera Justice

The Haitian Times, an authority on Haiti news in the Diaspora, picked up our press release on the latest development in the cholera case against the United Nations. On January 9th, 2015, a US judge dismissed the lawsuit, declaring the UN absolutely immune from suit. This leaves the victims of the epidemic with nowhere to turn to seek justice, as they have exhausted other methods of seeking a remedy. We will bring the suit to the appeals court and continue seeking justice for Haiti’s cholera victims.

Judge Deems UN Immune from Lawsuit for Haiti Cholera Disaster

The Haitian TimesJanuary 11, 2015

On the eve of the fifth anniversary of the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti in 2010, a U.S. judge dismissed a lawsuit against the United Nations (UN) for its catastrophic introduction of cholera to Haiti, deeming the UN absolutely immune from suit.

“For the 8,700 Haitians who have died and the 720,000 that have suffered from cholera, this decision implies that there is nowhere in the world they can turn to seek justice,” said Mario Joseph of the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux in Haiti, a human rights lawyer for cholera victims. “That is irreconcilable with their human rights and basic notions of justice.”

The class action lawsuit, Georges et al. v. United Nations et al., was filed in the Southern District of New York in October 2013 after the UN rebuffed extensive efforts to seek justice through the UN’s settlement process. The UN rejected claims filed by 5,000 victims of cholera in November 2011 as “not receivable” without providing legal justification. That position has been widely criticized as unjustifiable in view of the UN’s legal and moral obligations.